 "Delhi High Court")
The Delhi High Court (HC) has refused to suspend the jail sentence handed to Jaideep Singh Sengar, who was convicted in a case related to the death of the father of a woman who was raped in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district in 2017, reported Live Law.
Jaideep Singh Sengar is the brother of expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar. He has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The woman’s father was arrested in an illegal arms case in April 2018. It was later found that he had been framed in the case. He died in judicial custody in Unnao on April 9, 2018, a day after his daughter attempted to commit suicide outside Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath’s house, as no action had been taken against Kuldeep Singh Sengar till then.
The former BJP MLA was convicted of raping the woman in 2017. She was a minor at the time. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2019 and was also ordered to pay Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the complainant.
Jaideep Singh Sengar stated in his plea to the high court that he is suffering from oral cancer and that his health would not allow him to serve the remainder of his sentence in prison. He further stated that since the sentences of the other defendants had been suspended, the same should be done in his case.
However, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma cited an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) report on Jaideep Singh Senger's condition, stating that it is "clear on the point that the appellant's medical condition is not of such a nature that he cannot serve the sentence awarded to him in the jail," reported the Indian Express.
The court also highlighted that he had been in judicial custody for three years, "which is much lower than half of the total sentence awarded" to him.
